Ok, so, since the Wii U and 3ds shops are gonna close down soon, I'm on a mission to collect all the fun Wii U and 3ds games I can find. Here's a list of what I think are some of the best download-only Wii U and 3ds games that I've found. I think most of these may also be on Switch, Steam, or other platforms. And a lot of these are available on both 3ds and Wii U.
3ds
All of the Sonic Game Gear/Master system games that are on 3ds: Sonic 1 and 2, Sonic Blast, Sonic Labyrinth, Triple Trouble, and Tails Adventure. If you don't have the original machines to play them on, then this is the best way to play these. Works so much better than online emulators.
Pretty much anything by Circle and Skipmore. So, the Witch and Hero trilogy, Fairune, Drancia Saga, Ambition of the Slimes. I know I'm forgetting some, but just filter by publisher and look up Circle and Skipmore. All their games are just sooooo fun. Most of them are pretty simple, you can get through them in a few hours, but you really should clear a few hours out of a single day when you sit down to play one because they are highly addictive. Especially Witch and Hero.
Quell: Memento. This is a fun puzzle game with a bittersweet story about a crotchety, old, reclusive man. Your goal is to get him to open up about his life.
Steamworld. Get the whole series, if you can. They are mostly platformer, metroidvania, and/or puzzle styled games where you play as steam-powered robots.
Legend of Dark Witch. Multiple ways to play, side-scrolling platformer game with some magical shooter elements.
Kingdom's Item Shop. This is so cute- you run a shop for magical and heroic items, and you have to go out and fight monsters to get more ingredients. You also get to craft new items.
Alchemic Dungeons. Nothing but dungeons, and you craft what you need as you go along.
Alphadia. High fantasy RPG, but with bioengineering sci-fi story elements.
Severed. Action game with dungeons where you sever monsters' limbs to get upgrades. Not as gross as it sounds.
Excave. It's a trilogy. Dungeon crawler. Cuz, come on, how can you not love dungeon crawlers?
Cursed ex Castilla. Basically a Ghosts 'n Goblins clone, but with its own story. And you can save your place, so that alone makes it worth it XD
Adventure Labyrinth Story. Another dungeon crawler.
Kemco RPG's. There's a bunch of them, and they all have good stories: ASH, Infinite Dunamis, Justice Chronicles... like I said, there's a bunch. Each one puts its own spin on the battle mechanincs.
Ninja Usagimaru. A series of puzzle games where you have to push, pull, and throw blocks to rescue villagers and defeat the monsters. Reminds me of an old block-pushing puzzle game I played years ago and can't remember the name of. Anyway, Usagimaru is fun.
Wii U
1001 Spikes. I'm pretty sure there's more spikes than that in this game X'D. NES-inspired pixel art action game. Get the treasure and escape, but don't stand in one place for too long.
Alphadia Genesis. Prequal to Alphadia (which I mentioned above for 3ds).
More Steamworld games.
Axiom Verge. It honestly looks like a Metroid clone, but Axiom Verge is its own story and has its own rules of gameplay and mechanics. And it ain't easy, by any means.
Bit Dungeon. Dungeon crawler. Yup, that's it, just dungeons. Go ahead, go nuts.
Dragon Fantasy. Highly comedic high fantasy RPG where you play as a bald, middle-aged former hero. There's a whole series. Looks like it was inspired by Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Earthbound.
Defend Your Crypt. This game is backwards! So, usually, you would play as someone trying to break into a crypt to steal treasures, right? Well, in this game, you play as the ghost of a pharaoh who has to activate the traps to avoid getting his treasures stolen. Pixel-art.
Freedom Planet. Now, I know this game's on Steam and Switch, but if you have a little room on your Wii U and not on your Switch, you might want to try it. It's adorable, the characters are funny, the story is good, and it is so heavily inspired by Sega Genesis games.
Human Resource Machine. Stupid little game about the fundamentals of programming. Fun for anyone trying to learn computer science.
Master Reboot and Soul Axiom. These two are a set. They're somewhat minimalized first-person exploration/puzzle games set in one of those storylines where people have uploaded their consciousness into the cloud.
Space Hunted. As far as I know, this is ONLY on Wii U (and it may be the only game in my list that is only on Wii U). If you like the old NES sci-fi games, you HAVE to get this one! If it didn't have a copyright date of 2017, I would have sworn this was an original NES game. Not only are the music and the art true to the era, but it has a very simplistic menu style and it is just as hard as any NES sci-fi shootout I've ever tried.
NES Remix. You have the option to play missions and whole levels from the biggest NES hits (Mario, Kirby, Kid Icarus, Zelda, and more), but the real fun is the Remix levels. Some of them involve characters from one game ending up in another (so you have things like Mario's Boos chasing Kirby), while others have mixed-up versions of the original levels, like reversed or silhouetted levels. (The Kirby egg-eating level drove me nuts because the camera pans in closer and closer with every egg.) I do believe that NES Remix 1, 2, and Ultimate are only on 3ds and Wii U.
Nihilumbra. A spot of darkness escapes from the void and discovers beauty, life, and color, but he eventually develops an existential crisis as he realizes the void will destroy everything in its past as it attempts to reclaim him.
Xeodrifter. Hard. NES-inspired pixel art. Another game that reminds me of Metroid, but the art style is not cloned.
Swords and Soldiers. Strategy battle game, so stupid and hilarious and adorable. Pretty sure there's a whole series, I've only got the first one.
Pixel Slime U. Obviously developed by a true sadist. Pixel art, but there's no way you could confuse this with a retro NES game. Every level has a gimmick- some spin, some are upside-down, some switch from upside-down to right-side-up, and those are the easy ones. Only play if you're a glutton for punishment and you don't get motion sickness. I think it's only on Wii U, so get it while you can.
Olympia Rising. Play as the soul of a warrior trying to escape the rising ocean of acid in Hades. A bit tough.
Twisted Fusion. You've been transported to a world in the sky where all the monsters are allergic to water, so you use water guns to destroy them. And your character's phone has all these apps they can use to upgrade. Gameplay isn't too dynamic, but the setting of the game makes it enjoyable.
Castle Storm. Tower defense. Funny cutscenes, good graphics. Medieval knights vs. barbaric Vikings. But are the Vikings really that barbaric? And is it possible there's a traitor among Sir Gareth's men? Play to find out!
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. The punk sister is stuck in the cutesy world and the cutesy sister is stuck in the punk world. Switch back and forth between them to escape back to reality.
Knytt Underground. Mountain-climbing game- you can climb walls like in Celeste, but there's no stamina limit (also no dash). Journey through the post-apocalyptic underground world as both a mute human and a bouncy ball to ring the 6 bells that will prevent the world from dying. I think Knytt might actually be a series, but this is the first one I've found.
And I'm actually still collecting and intend to get as many as I can right up until the shops close down. Will try to remember to update this list as I find more.
